Fluffnomore

I like that you have a shared plan. That's great.

Our plan had 4 weeks of liquids too. Two weeks of clears, two weeks of full. I know this is hard but it is really going to seem like a blink of the eye after the fact.

My husband has so far been denied for surgery though he wants it, and he is quite jealous. I try to be sympathetic, but it is completely annoying. In the meantime he has been bingeing more at night and has gained about 5-10 pounds. So now he's saying, "It's flying off of you, and onto me!" No, you are eating at night, sweetie. We have had several conversations about how since the surgery it has rarely been about me and mostly about me managing his feelings about it, but it is still very hard for him to try to remain positive for me. So I am pretty much spearheading the whole appeal process and hoping that we will get some positive news. However, I have also expressed my concern about his coping mechanism thus far… As many have counseled me, nagging is counterproductive. I just try to continue to make good choices for myself and hope that everyone will let me do my thing with a minimum of fuss.

And building muscle from starting up exercise!

The further into this I get the less I know. When I was very sick with gallbladder issues 5 years ago and dropped a ton of weight, I was around 174. I was wearing a loose size 14 at that point. The odd thing is that I'm comfortably in a 14 now, 20 pounds heavier. I think in another 5 pounds I will probably be able to wear everything I wore at that lower weight, probably because I'm exercising. I'm beginning to wrap my head around the idea that a long time ago I settled for what I thought the lowest weight I could be was, and I may have overestimated that by about 20 pounds. When I was in college and active I probably was right around 145-155. Wearing size 10 in some things, size 12 in others. By the time I was out, I was "comfortable" in the 160s and 170s and in a loose 14. I have begun to think that I ought to just keep exercising, and keep following the plan and see where it leads me. The idea that it might be reasonable for me to aim for a size 8 is sort of revolutionary to me. Frankly, I'm surprised that it makes me hesitate and scares me a bit. All that said, my official goal is to get to a normal BMI, or 149/150, as flawed as that might be. I'm not really sure my doctor has a specific goal for me although we batted around 160 when we were first meeting. But I'm only 5'5". I don't know. I think the health benefits are realized when I get into the 170s. (The obese to overweight shift.)

Here you go: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/255776-list-of-vsg-post-op-diets-from-surgeons/

Hi Patty, I think weighing every day works for some people and not for others. The biggest part of this whole WLS "journey" is figuring out what works for me. Did your office not offer nutritional information or require meeting with a NUT prior to surgery? Never fear. I know that there is a list of links to post-op guidelines floating around here someplace. I'll search it and see if I can post a link.

No "cheating" here either. I waited until I was on solid foods to eat solid foods. And frankly, I think the whole mentality of "cheating" and temptation is what got us here in the first place. There is really nothing out there that I can't ever have again, and nothing out there that is worth derailing myself for. I don't eat 100% perfectly every day now but I don't call it cheating. But I'd say I probably eat 98% clean. If I go off plan, I call it what it is: a bite of my son's cheesecake, but not a piece. And it gets logged. I call it choices. And I certainly won't blame the sleeve or temptation if I make bad choices and my weight loss does not live up to my expectations. That said, it's much easier to stick to the rules. It just is.

No, it will make the loose skin worse, LOL. Ah, 4/6. That is a dream. Our minds are our worst enemies!

Sorry. Couldn't resist. That sounds a lot like a gall bladder attack. Do you know if it was after a meal that had some fat in it? But I still reiterate that you should call your doctor... Good luck.

You might not for long.

Do you still have your gall bladder? Yes, call your doctor!

I've been thinking about the looks thing overnight. One of my very close friends was sleeved in June (I was October) and two of her best friends had other WLS. I believe they were both RNY; one might have been DS. One of them looks sickly. His skin has a kind of yellowish tinge to it; he looks washed out. I am guessing he's been having some trouble with malabsorption. The other friend looked a little "off" when I saw her in August. I saw her again in November and she looked much healthier. It might have been something as simple as hair thinning that resolved itself. I really don't know. I couldn't put my finger on it then so I don't know what "improved." So I wonder if some of it is this malabsorption thing? But it probably does have a lot to do with genetics. My friend and I had less weight to lose than the other two so I don't know if that has something to do with it too.

Even further out, don't stress about the scale. This week so far I have weighed 194, 193, 198, 197, 193 and 196. Not everyone has these kinds of fluctuations, but I seem to have them regularly…most often in a time period when I am stabilizing downward. What's my real weight? Oh, probably around 194/195. And I think my body is considering letting me go to 192/193 shortly. If my patterns hold, I'll bounce around those numbers for a week or three, and then all of a sudden I will start hitting 190/191 some days and bounce back up to 194/195 until I'm stabilized lower again. Am I getting my Protein in? Water? Am I exercising? Have I pooped? Am I avoiding junk? Are my carbs at the right level? How's my sodium? Is it that time of the month? These are the only questions I worry about. I don't obsess about the scale even though I weigh every day. If you obsess, don't weigh every day. I look pretty much only at what things look like week to week, and my numbers this week are consistently about 1-2 pounds less than last week's. Done.

I have purchased a new pair of jeans at Target basically each month. I realized the other day that after wearing them for a day, the 14s were bagging a bit, so I bought the 12s. It will take another couple of weeks before they really fit but I can zip them now. I'm also digging through my closet and pulling out stuff I haven't been able to wear in 5 years. Totally fun. But I wear jeans pretty much every day and it has been enough of a boost to be able to buy new pairs (and they're about $20) so I have enjoyed that. I will say that I bought 16s early on and could only wear them for a week or two. The 14s have lasted at least a month so far. My ring size has been 6 all along. The rings do fit better now, but I doubt I'll have to downsize that. No idea about feet.

Right. I started out thinking 170. Now I'm thinking 150. But there's a part of me that is saying, "Well…why not take it as far as it will go?" I mean, 100 pounds lost puts me right in the middle of my normal weight chart at 5'5". Whatever that's worth. Also, in a strange development, I'm already wearing a size that I was last able to wear when I was 15-20 pounds lighter. And that also makes me think I should be looking at sizes more than an actual weight. I have never worked out this much while following any kind of a plan. Okay, as I think about it, I wonder if I have ever really worked out at ALL while also following a restricted calorie diet. I think I've gone full bore into exercise OR diet, but not both at the same time. Sorry. Squirrel darted out there.

It's so helpful to read and see this thread. I was talking to a friend (a skinny bitch friend, LOL) yesterday and she was marveling over the 44 pounds. I am having trouble right now understanding/visualizing/trying to figure out how it will be 20, 30, 40 pounds from now. I think because I'm very close to a previous "maintenance" weight I am kind of happy with where it is now. Not happy enough NOT to see this through and keep going, but it's just so hard to believe that it is coming off. I mean, I know exactly where more weight is going to come from; but my belief that it is happening hasn't necessarily caught up with the reality. I don't know if I make any sense. But to see stats like Lipstick Lady's and others who are similarly situated, I am beginning to understand that wow, I might actually make my reasonable goal…and maybe more. And I am starting to wonder what it will be like to get there and deal with that. And to get back to the OP's point…man, I'll take looking slightly older (if that is what happens) or saggy or whatever. I'm already better at my workouts and exercising with waaaay less pain and discomfort. I feel so much healthier, all the time. And that is more important to me than almost anything. Though to be honest, I think LL's loss makes her look 10-15 years younger.

Sorry guys. Hard to see the Vet designation when I'm using the laptop.

I was looking over an old thread from March about whether or not we consider ourselves food addicts, and why. Although I didn't sense it so much in this thread, I have kind of felt that other threads imply that if you do not identify with this label, you are probably in denial. But my question is, what exactly are we in denial from? I have a thousand thoughts spinning around right now and some are contradictory. Bear with me. For myself, I think the jury is kind of out. I do NOT identify with the addict label at this point; nor can I truly say that all of my obesity has to do with medical issues (although clearly some of the problems lie there.) What is my barometer for this? Simply put, I live with someone who has a great deal of disordered behavior around eating, and I do not. Granted, this may sound like the inmates running the asylum, but my "proof" of this is that I don't have uncontrollable urges around foods; currently I have Halloween and Christmas candy hidden away from my husband and kids until I can take it to work but to me it is completely "out of sight/out of mind." Even if it was sitting on the counter, I probably wouldn't touch more than a piece or two, if that. There are foods that I could eat more of if they were in front of me; of course I was obese enough to qualify for this surgery. But I think in my case it was a combination of poor habits, metabolism, and a switch from working downtown to working at home and sitting/driving a lot more. Like anyone who has been on one spillion diets, I knew exactly what I should eat to lose weight. And the advice that I followed, when I chose to, was the high Protein, lower carb (focusing on veg and fruit.) It was very hard for me to sustain. The less I was motivated, the "hungrier" I felt. "Today for a change I'll order a cheeseburger; lots of protein in that after all" became more habitual behavior than unusual. I am sure also that my evening glasses of wine and snacking added up to way more than I ever believed. Oh, I had quite a few days of reasonable eating, just not enough to offset the unreasonable days. You're not supposed to have one or two days of clean eating followed by five cheat days. (FYI. If you were interested.) Just 10 weeks of tracking everything has shown me that pretty clearly. So, the tracking and the restriction have helped me immensely. I mean, did I ever really let myself think about the fact that 2 margaritas equalled about 800-900 calories? I didn't think they were good for me, although I'm sure I touted their scurvy-preventing benefits at some points. And the sugar…oy. So while I am working through WHY I could get to this point, I think it's very important to strive to understand myself now while I am in the honeymoon phase so that I do not go back. And I ran across this article about how well we know ourselves and if others can judge us better than we judge ourselves. Psychology Today says no. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one-among-many/201209/do-others-know-you-better-you-know-yourself

"I'll be the really, really ridiculously good looking one."

Okay, one swim down!

I know what you mean. I just spent 30 minutes reading a thread from March about food addiction and trying to decide whether it was worth replying. In the end, I decided not to. That time would have been better spent doing a lot of other things. I think some reflection is good; but some days I know I take the reading and commenting way too far. I use mynetdiary to track. Why? I had both MFP and MND downloaded but for some reason when I was ready to start MFP wouldn't open right on my iPhone. It is that simple.

Tough one. My practice actually doesn't say anything about this. I started tracking before surgery, before coming onto this web site, etc. Mostly as an accountability thing. Like you say, it is impossible to hide calories when you track. At the same time, when I try to take a day off (like Christmas) somehow I go back and track anyway. However, I haven't been tracking for years; one of the reasons I started was because I was sure that at least some of my issues stem from underestimating my eating habits. Interestingly, this is all for me. I don't use MFP and I don't really want to share my eating habits widely…not because I'm ashamed but because I don't think it would help me to know what others are doing or not doing. I'm also still at the point of re-introducing foods, so I don't always have a sense of what the proportions of protein/carbs/calories are. Then again, I'm finding that this period of time (I'm at 10 weeks) is a big adjustment. The training wheels are off, and although I am sure I could call my doctor's office for guidance, I don't actually see them again for 3 weeks. Haven't seen them since my 4 week appointment. And the appts are 1 week, 4 week, 3 months. Seems to me it's a long time to potentially set habits that aren't good before being "straightened out." What if you try to take a week off and judge only by what the scale says? I'm sure your habits are reasonably well ingrained by now.

It reminds me of something an old choir director once said to us: "I'd rather that everyone sings out as boldly as they can in rehearsal, because if I can't hear what your mistakes are, I can't help you fix them. Better you do it now, loud and proud, when it doesn't matter, so that we can correct it while there is time and have a great performance."